The present invention relates generally to cleaning, and in particular to a water spray head for spray cleaning surfaces of a cavity, particularly a carcass and more particularly a poultry carcass.
The present invention is described in connection with the cleaning of poultry carcasses, as an example. The method of removing internal organs from poultry essentially has not changed since early fowl hunting. Modern processing plants have simply automated the process, and the disassembly of the poultry carcass usually occurs after it has been hung on a moving line of shackles. The standard method is that the poultry is humanely slaughtered and the feet, feathers and heads are removed. Then a cut is made through the abdominal wall below the vent. This is done while the bird is retained in shackles for automated handling, either hung upside down (chicken broilers) or in a three-point suspension (turkeys). Usually a hole is precut in the abdominal wall, and sometimes the poultry or other fowl is hung upside down, and a spoon is used for automatically removing the viscera. 
The present methods, in which the abdominal wall is opened, tend to risk contamination by slicing, rupturing, or even squeezing the intestines so that intestinal matter or fecal matter will leak and contaminate the bird. Methods of removing the vent, without damaging the intestines have been advanced, but still the percentage of birds contaminated is substantial. Individual inspection devices have also been advanced. In certain methods a shackle line is designed to eliminate the necessity for the inspector to touch the birds during inspection. Contamination from one bird will not be easily transferred to another. Again, in this instance, the abdominal cavity is open, and the internal organs are inspected through the rear of the bird.
Automated devices for eviscerating poultry or other birds utilizing suspended shackle systems and automated spoons are sometimes used. The known methods cause problems and it is disadvantageous if the entrails or viscera hangs downwards over the back of the bird, as will sometimes happen in a system where the birds are inverted and the viscera is removed through an upwardly facing abdominal cavity opening. In certain designs, the spine is held horizontally during evisceration.
Regardless of the type of evisceration method or methods employed, it is important to ensure that the internal cavity of an eviscerated poultry carcass is well-washed during or after evisceration and prior to final processing, in order to minimize the chance of contamination of the other portions of the bird by fecal matter. 